My Story, My Song
by Divide19
Summary: Hello, my name is Aussie. I'm the platypus who accidentally took part in Perry's 100th battle, which he was unable to participate in. This is a songfic on my life story. For more about me, check out VibeQuake's fanfic, Misperceived Monotreme Part II. This songfic would have a lot of references from that one. AU story.
1. Chapter 1: Past and Present

**Aussie's POV**

It's been years since that day, but I still remember what happened then as if it had just occurred a minute ago. The memory plagues me really deeply. It would never stop haunting me in my sleep as well; I've had countless nightmares about the incident that day and the death of my parents. If only it would just get out of my mind!

Oww. It hurts. A lot. It's like my fur is being burned off of my body. No, I think it's more like my skin being melted under some excruciatingly intense heat. It hurts so much- Wait a second. I'm in a gym. There is only sports equipment around.

I don't want to be reminded of that. Honestly, I reckon it a miracle for me to survive. But now I have this grave angst for- I can't even take thinking of the word. That four letter word. Am I trembling? I feel a cold sweat going down my forehead. Oh, no, it's back. The sensation, the memory. I can sense myself getting weaker and weaker, as the fear deprives me of my strength.

Now I'm hearing that screaming voice again. That voice of someone calling my name has become somewhat familiar, although I still couldn't recognize whose voice it is. It's hotter and hotter in here. I need some water to cool down. Don't pass out, don't pass out, don't pass out...

* * *

I stagger to the O.W.C.A. pool, which is fortunately not too far from the gym, and I jump into the water, refreshed and calmed down once I feel the liquid brushing through my fur. In order to get rid of the horrible thought, I swim in the vacant pool for ten minutes before getting out and drying myself off.

"Aussie?" I bump into my trainer, Perry on my way back to the gym, "I thought you were at the gym."

"I was. But I left and took a ten-minute swim at the pool."

Perry knew by now I have the urge to get in the water whenever my fear comes back to me, so he didn't question me or blame me. In fact, he gave me permission to go swimming any time I need to only yesterday, and I'm very thankful for that.

"Are you resuming your workout?" asked Perry.

"Yes," I nodded firmly. We walked back to the gym together. Perry didn't ask me about what was going on with me in the gym before, and I'm pretty glad about it.

* * *

I'm so exhausted. My arms sore from all the pushings and pullings. Every inch of my fur is completely soaked up with sweat, and my body is weakened by fatigue. I could barely go on-

What, Perry isn't tired a bit yet? We have been working out just as long! Well, I guess that's what being a professional secret agent makes you, especially when you're the best agent the agency has ever had. He is really strong and full of energy, it's beyond imagination why he didn't become some muscular platypus with six-packs. It really makes me wonder.

"All right, I guess that's enough workout." Hearing this, I take my hand off the bars and got off the weight machine. "You could take a rest if you're tired," Perry addresses me as we step out of the room, "don't be too harsh on yourself and don't push yourself too hard, otherwise you might hurt yourself."

I let out a little sigh. "It's just that we look really alike, and I'm afraid if I don't become as strong as you are, I would be stuck in the image of 'Perry's weak doppelganger."

"I can see that. You insisted to come here right after you woke up from a blackout. You were trembling rather badly, but you still force yourself to do some exercise."

Having nothing to say, I stay silent while Perry continues, "but Rome wasn't built in a day."

"What are you saying? When is our topic about Rome?"

"Aussie, that's a saying. What I mean is that I am as strong as I am now after going through years of training and fighting. It is quite unlikely, nearly impossible, for anyone to attain my strength in a short time. And I don't expect you to. I don't want you to try."

"Perry, there's something I couldn't comprehend. Why do you think so highly of me when you know I'm the one who actually participated in your 100th battle, even though you know quite well that all that I did was unintentional. It was just a series of mindless actions which ended up serendipitously blowing up an evil scientist's machine."

Perry said, "when you fought Doofenshmirtz, you were actually following your instinct. And with so few moves on land as a platypus, you managed to accomplish what I do in a much more complex way. If I'm being honest, I don't reckon that I'd be able to do that myself had I been restricted to only use the moves you used.

Now imagine if you learned the fighting moves we secret agents use. I don't even have to tell you when to use them; once you've been taught how to perform the move, your instincts would know when you should use it in a fight. That is the 'feat' I've been talking about, and the biggest reason I praise you, Aussie, for fighting Doofenshmirtz mindlessly."

"Thank you. It really means a lot to me, especially as you're the best agent in this place," I said, still not sure if I deserve the compliment.

Perry began to sing in a register much higher than his speaking voice. There were no instruments to accompany him, all I hear is his light, soothing singing voice.

 _Don't you know you're extraordinary?_

 _You're fantastic, can't you see?_

 _I saw all your incredible feat_

 _Imma_ _show you if you don't believe_

It is the worst decision to go down the tunnel a second time after I was tempted into an accidental secret agent mission by a sandwich. I was pinned to the ground in Perry's lair because he thought I'm an intruder. However, as it turned out, it is the best one, too. The results are brilliant after I took a risk and went into that lair... again.

I'm happy that I gave in to my curiosity; I wouldn't have gotten into this wonderful place if I hadn't. They say that curiosity kills a cat, but for me, curiosity led me to find something better than I have ever dreamed of.


	2. Chapter 2: My First Try

The best day of my life has got to be the day I stumbled across Perry's lair, for it triggered everything which came next. It was like unlocking a door to a brand new world.

Though I gotta admit that I can't remember how it went now; I could recall smelling that sandwich with sardine fillings and felling through the tube into the flying chair, and I remember ending up "fighting" a man with a weird accent, German accent, I suppose. But how that chair flew me to his place is beyond me. I only know it flew me there because I remember seeing the streets, the cars, and the buildings down below is a hundred times smaller, and I'm thus able to infer that I must have flown in that chair.

Sitting at the table, I take out the notebook and wrote about my days in the agency and my crush on Nyx. I suppose it's love at first sight; back in Canberra, Robin told me about his relationship with Alicia, and he used that phrase to describe their relationship. I'm aware that I'm acting quite intimidated here, especially when I'm facing something that brings back my dreadful memories, in which case I would look really pathetic.

Hey, where's that music coming from?

I wander back and forth for a while before finally figuring out the answer. Someone is playing the piano in this room, and it's beautiful. I wonder who it is.

I know that because it sounds almost just the same as that gigantic thingy I found on the pavement when I escaped from Danville Zoo for the first time three months ago. I made the similar sounds when I stepped on the black and white blocks. It stunned me at first as it was a bit too loud and that those blocks would sink when I stepped on it and pop back up as soon as it was released.

I remember getting people staring at me, and it wasn't very enjoyable. As I've told Perry, I don't like attention in the best of times. Among the crowd, there was one guy who yelled, "get that platypus off the piano!", which made me much more nervous, so I jumped off the piano- yes, that's how I learned it was called a piano.

By the way, I'm thankful he didn't call me a beaver duck, a mutant duck, or whatever. I don't know why, but humans have a tendency to misperceive us platypuses unless they're in a zoo and they could read the sign to be informed of that. It was laughable to me at first, but it has gotten increasingly irritating over time. Although in reality, we platypuses do have this inside joke of calling one another "beaver duck".

I walked over to the door. But admittedly, I'm kind of nervous. What if it's someone I don't wanna see? What if it's someone who doesn't want to see me?

The music is so lively and yet so delicate. It's also rather sentimental and passionate. Back in Canberra, there was that zookeeper whose name I couldn't recall, and he would play us platypuses some music on a strange black box. However, I don't remember hearing this song ever before.

I let my curiosity get the best of me and knock on the door. Though I'm not certain if that someone inside could hear my faint knock over the sound of the piano.

"Come on in." The music came to a halt. I recognized the voice in an instant. It is Perry who was playing the piano. Apparently, he had heard me.

"Hello, Aus." I see that he's sitting at a piano and smiling at me.

"Eh, hi, Perry. I really love your playing. You play the piano really well," I'm acting shy again; I simply couldn't help it.

"Thank you," says Perry. He surprisingly doesn't question why I know it's a piano.

"What's that song you were playing?"

"Oh, that? Nah, it's not even a song. I was just improvising over the B flat major II-V-I progression."

"What's improvising?"

"It means I was playing the piano as I like at the moment without any preparation; in other words, I hadn't known what I was going to play until I started playing. I just played whatever came to me. The term also applies to other musical instruments as well as other things."

"But it sounded like you were playing a piece which you had memorised in advance. It was quite impressive."

"Have you ever sung before?" asked Perry.

I was startled by the sudden ask. It took me a little while to get into the right mind and give a response. "No, I have never done that. I have listened to some music in Australia, and they sing a lot here in Danville, but not me. I guess it's because I don't know any song. I could try if you want me to."

"Well, there's a song I heard recently: How to Save A Life. It's a song by The Fray, a band that originated here in Danville. Maybe you could try that; I'll sing the whole song first."

"But I don't know the lyrics!" I can hear my voice going up.

"Don't worry. I'll look it up on the laptop for you in advance, so you could look at the words as you sing." Perry assured me before taking off his fedora.

It took him one good minute to dig through the hat and pull the laptop out. All of his stuff is scattered on the floor by then. He said with an apologetic and slightly embarrassed smile, "sorry I made this mess. I'll clean it up."

The things on the floor are back in Perry's fedora surprisingly fast. He puts on his fedora and turns on the laptop.

He begins to play the intro on the piano after handing me the laptop with the lyrics onscreen.

Perry becomes a totally different person- I mean, platypus- when he starts singing. His body is moving back and forth, his head is swinging lightly, and he'd close his eyes sometimes.

When Perry finished singing, I'm completely immersed in the music I was listening to. It is absolutely amazing.

The music starts over. I realise it is my turn. Perry gives me a sign to start singing, and I'm a little nervous. However, I notice that I feel more and more relaxed as I sing. When I sing the chorus for the last time, I unintentionally sing a slightly deviated tune for some reason. Perry likes the change, apparently, as he gives me a pat on the shoulder.


	3. Chapter 3: Singing Karaoke

It's been three weeks since I got into the agency. I walked into the karaoke room with Nyx. We were greeted with warm, beckoning smiles from Melinda the Cat, Jackie the Rabbit, Sapphire the Platypus, and of course, Perry.

Upon our arrival, Perry said, "Glad you could come, Aus. Have a seat. Nyx just told me how you 'throw yourself into life' the moment you got into the O.W.C.A., and I had to say that I could not agree more."

"Thank you, Perry. And you too, of course, Nyx. I really like you, you two are great."

"Well, based on my experiences, those who were like you, throwing themselves into life, ended up being one of the best agents in the agency, if not the best agent. Trust me, I have seen- and heard- a lot."

Wow, that was some level of praise, especially seeing as I'm barely starting out. Honestly, though, it kind of makes me feel overwhelmed.

While the others took turns singing, I just lounged in my seat. However, after not long did Perry notice me, although I was behaving rather reserved.

"Aussie, you haven't picked up your microphone once yet. Don't you have any song you want to sing?"

"Nah, I don't think so. But it's fine, it's not like I know any song," I told Perry.

Perry said, "if you don't know the lyrics to the song, they'll be displayed onscreen, and thus it shouldn't be a problem," Perry reminded me before he went on, "and you don't have to be able to sing well to sing karaoke. You just have to make sure you won't kill someone with your voice." He let out a chuckle.

"Kill someone with my voice? How's that even possible?"

I heard a female voice just after I had asked, "it's a figure of speech. It means that if your singing isn't extremely horrible, you can sing karaoke." I nodded understandingly to Nyx's explanation.

"What about this one?" Perry asked, indicating at the song title on the small screen in the corner, "you sang it with me last time."

"Yes, I remember that. It's the first I've ever sung; pleasant for me. But you have to go in first, for I'm really afraid messing up the whole song from starting to sing at the wrong time."

"Okay, I'll open the song for you."

Perry played the song on the karaoke machine as I grabbed the microphone into my right hand, turning it on. The screen displayed the song title, _How To Save A Life_ , and the original band who had performed it, _The Fray_.

"He... right- Aussie!"

Perry interrupted his own singing to signal me to begin. I sang into the mic, continuing the song, and Perry stopped singing. He flipped his microphone a couple of times as I sang.

Perry joined in again when I got to the last line before the chorus, singing in harmony with me. We sang the chorus together, me singing the lead vocals and Perry harmonizing. I had never heard that before, hence it's most likely improvisation, which Perry seems to have an interest and gift in.

Perry started singing the lead vocals along with me as we got to the second verse. I decided to let him sing the chorus on his own this time before I joined in on the third verse. Just like when Perry and I first sang the song, I changed the tune in the following chorus, spicing up the song. It also added harmonic variety since Perry was singing the original tune.

"Next up I'm gonna sing a song written and performed by my beloved and loving owners, Phineas and Ferb," Perry announced right before he pressed play, revealing the song on the screen, "Rollercoaster. They wrote this song for their self-devised, self-constructed rollercoaster- the coolest coaster ever, that's what Phineas and Ferb named it."

I recognized the song as soon as I heard the intro with low backing vocals singing "rollercoaster" over and over. It was odd, though; it shouldn't feel that close. It's like the background singers who had recorded this soundtrack was behind me right now. I wondered how is that possible as I listened to Perry sing. And why just this song and not any other song?

I was awakened from my deep thoughts by Perry's surprising slide into a high voice. It seemed he was enjoying it a lot from his playful smirk, which I had never seen before. When the Spanish line came up on the screen, he sang in a sonorous and legato style, and the ad-lib at the end of that line added extra flavour to his singing.

Everyone, no matter if they're holding a microphone, shouted out the very next line in unison. Well, except for Sapphire and me. "That right, oh yeah!" Perry sang. Jackie told me, "that melody is his own improvisation. That line's spoken in the original song without any melody."

Perry was still singing into the microphone, but all I hear is that strangely intimate soundtrack. It sounded exactly like when the song began. I stared at Perry for a while before I finally realized that it was he that was singing both times. His voice had blended into the soundtrack, so I didn't notice at first and perceived it as merely "overly intimate soundtrack" instead.

Perry leapt between mega-high and mega-low with his voice at the "ah-ah-ah" part. He goes into his middle range at the next "rollercoaster" but held the last note for over ten seconds before raising his tone a minor third above and sustaining it for ten more seconds. He eventually ended with a crazy belted high note.

"Rollercoaster, roll, rollercoaster; roller coaster, roll, roll the toaster; roll the jokester, roll, roll that over, rollercoaster, roll, roll the boulder!"

What was that which Perry just sang in the end? He changed the lyrics into some random rhyming word!


	4. Chapter 4: A Flicker of Inspiration

It's been a few weeks since I've become a trainee for the organization, and I think I'm getting on the right track. I could comprehend Perry's instructions with no problem at all now. Nyx may have mentioned my understanding issues to Perry after we went to the gym that time, you know when she bit me in the pool as I was trying to save her from drowning. I still sometimes feel sorry for my core for her; that near-death experience messed her up for sure.

From that day on, Perry has been more patient with me. Not that he was acting any impatient with me, but he used to not explain his instructions enough for me to understand because he assumed that I knew what he meant. After realizing he made a wrong assumption which might have major consequences, he started to explain his words more.

I even saw him cross his eyes during one of our sessions, which confused me. I got tensed up because I thought he was upset with me, but it turned out he was only trying to find a way to word the instructions more clearly to me. He told me that he has a tendency to cross his eyes when he was thinking hard. "It's kind of difficult to express what I've known for years too well in words since they had become a part of me, it just feels natural to me, like swimming," said him.

I can relate to that, for I have some personal experiences which have something to do with it. When I first got transferred to Danville Zoo, I have a roommate who couldn't swim backwards.

Every platypus, or maybe just every platypus I know of (including, of course, myself), was taught to swim backwards. We platypuses are natural swimmers, but we're not born with the capability of swimming backwards. We have to learn it, and for most platypuses, it's done at the age of one, while for a few, it's at two. However, that roommate of mine was three years old but had no idea how to swim backwards.

In fact, I didn't know that until one day, when he saw me swimming in the pool in our enclosure, switching between backwards swimming and forward swimming. The moment I got out, I noticed his strange look. He stared at me in awe, and I thought, it's not a big deal, every platypus could do that, why are you acting like that?

He admitted to me he couldn't swim retrogradingly when I asked him why he was looking at me in that way. He said that he's brought into the zoo since he was only a few months old, so he'd never learned how to do that, before asking me to teach him.

Honestly, I had no idea how to. All I could do is demonstrate the moves to him through swimming backwards as slow as possible and tell him what I was told- every single word from my family when they're teaching me which I could recall. For a few more days I tried to figure out a method to express it in my words while my roommate tried to get what I mean through practising and pondering until finally, he learned how to swim backwards.

But the funny thing is, neither of us knew if it was that I had explained enough, or if it was he himself who got the drill after all those time. Perhaps a little of both.

Perry and I walked into the auditorium. I played the twelve bars blues chord progression on the piano with improvised walking bass, while Perry jammed on his guitar, giving me chances to play the solo from time to time.

We played as long as we like, and then Perry gave me an eye and played a final solo, ending it all. I took my hands off the keyboard and my right foot off the pedal. I mentioned to my trainer Perry, "Nyx told me last night you have your own theme song."

"Yes, I do have one," he grabbed a guitar, "and it goes like this."

I headed toward the piano and played the chords to the song, which perhaps gave Perry a surprise. He didn't know that I knew the chords.

"I see you've read the chords on the O.W.C.A. Internet."

I nodded, not stopping playing, "Pinky showed me that." We sang the song together.

Then, an idea hit me. I played a brief melody on the piano out of impulse.

Suddenly, my trainer stopped singing and playing his instrument altogether. I stopped thereafter to look at him. He stared at me, his eyes growing wide and his mouth agape. He started to tremble and mumble words I couldn't distinguish.

"Perry," I stood up, confused and anxious. I wondered what was going on in his mind. Did I just provoke anything in his head? Is it some sort of bad memory? Is it something that hurts him? Or is it...

My thoughts were cut short by Perry pulling me into an unexpected hug. "Superb, Aus." I could feel his heart beating as his strong chest pushed against my body.

"W-What?" I was shocked by this behaviour of my trainer, for it was really unlike him.

"He moved the guitar to his front and shouted, "that riff you've played! It's exactly what I need!" He played the melody on the guitar a couple times in a row and concluded with a descend.

"Wow, thank you." I laughed in contentment, noticing that his expression was back to normal, "though I thought you were already done with this song."

"Well, yes and no. When I was writing the song, I got stuck after finishing the top lines, the backing vocals, the guitar chords, the bass line, and the keyboards. Actually, it could be considered finished by then, but I knew there was something missing. I also needed a guitar riff, where the lead guitar plays a short melody line. I apologize for my actions earlier, and thank you so much for the inspiration."

"No, it is I who owes you thanks. Perry, you're all my motivation and inspiration here in the agency. It doesn't matter what I do or who I become; I could never possibly thank you enough." I replied hastily, feeling my body temperature rising from anxiety.

"Still not used to compliments yet?" Perry inquired, noticing my behaviour.

I nodded, "yeah, not quite."

"It's best if you do as quickly as possible. I'm pretty sure you're gonna be flooded with praises sooner or later; it's just a matter of time."

"Thank you. I will try not to get stressed out too much when someone compliments me."

"Don't overthink about it, Aus. It will work out eventually," said Perry as he smacked me lightly, in an encouraging way, on the back.

Perry left about a minute later, while I practised playing the guitar. I started with various scales, my fingers running up and down on the fretboard; then, I played some chords that Perry had taught me yesterday- in the afternoon.

I went on to play a couple of chord progressions, strumming in arbitrary patterns. However, when I was playing the C-Am-F-G progression, a melody popped into my head like magic. Unable to resist the musical idea, I began to hum, my hands still playing the guitar.

I stopped humming and playing altogether a few moments later, putting down the guitar. I walked out of the room and headed for my room, a feeling of satisfaction in my heart which seemed to have come out of nowhere causing a smile to creep up my face. I could also feel my own footsteps getting lighter than usual as I passed the corridor.


	5. Chapter 5: Starting Out

After finishing my training session of the day with Perry, I went directly into my room to take a shower. As the water fell onto my body, it created somewhat of a rhythm, and I couldn't help but tap my feet to it. I was doing that unintentionally.

Unintentionally. Just the way it all started. I was mindless back then, and all I did was unintentional. I did them simply out of my animal instincts. I was only a normal, ordinary monotreme, maybe less than that, seeing as my past is full of tragedies that I don't want to think of even at this very moment.

Well, I may have picked up a thing or two when I was in the zoo, but none of them were about fighting a full-sized human who's monstrous compared with myself. After all, the organization is likely the only place they teach domestic animals to fight humans- evil humans, they say, but still humans anyway.

I opened my diary to write something in it- only to come across the entry I've kept on the day I was introduced to the agency. Just then, the exact melody which popped up in my head two days ago came back. "Mindless, just an ordinary monotreme, la la la..., mindless, did all that unintentionally." I sang/hummed while scribbling the words I have down. However, it didn't sound complete to me, so I repeated the last line.

I find it funny how I, as someone who had never been engaged in secret agent business prior to getting into the O.W.C.A., was complimented by the best one in the game the moment he saw- recognized me, merely because I- I don't really wanna talk about it, let's just say it's something I've done. But the point is, I really don't deserve those things, as I was mindless then.

I filled in the spaces I left out about half a minute earlier and drew curves which signal the rises and falls of the tune. It helps to remind me of the melody later.

Day after day, I was firmer and firmer in my belief that the agency was the place for me. It was the best thing I could ever find, and I'm not going to leave. I believe this is the place where I'll find an answer to who I really am, and be better than I've ever been, be the best of myself and go beyond that.

I decided to take a stroll around. When I passed a room, I heard someone playing the drums. Fascinated by the beat, I was grooving in front of the door for a while before I caught myself. I looked around, thankful that there wasn't anyone around to see my weird deeds.

I knocked on the door harder than usual so I could be heard over the drums and the cymbals. "Come in," I recognized the voice at once. It was Nyx.

"Thank you," Nyx replied to my compliment, "I just came up with a beat yesterday."

"May I listen to it?"

"Actually, I was going to ask if I could play it, so, sure," Nyx said and began to play. It turned out I was acting a bit too eager. I don't know why, honestly, but I guess I have a tendency to do that.

I tried my best to control my body, but I still swung my body left and right a little. "That's cute," Nyx remarked, obviously having noticed that.

"What's the song you were humming?" Nyx asked when she finished playing.

"What song?" I was taken by surprise and confused. I think I must have been humming some tune again.

"Like this, da la la da la la la, da la la da la la la, da la la da la la la da da da la," she sang the melody back to me, and I found it funny how it kind of fits with the melody I came up with two days prior.

"I've never heard that melody, so I suppose I was just improvising with my vocals unknowingly."

"Oh, so you came up with it by yourself? I like that."

"Thank you. I really like your beat," I glanced to my right, "may I play that guitar, please?" I asked.

"Go ahead," said Nyx. I grabbed the guitar and strummed an open G chord. It sounded a little pitchy, so I had to tune it. Perry had taught me how to tune a guitar by ear, and this has come in handy a lot of times.

I played the C Am F G progression on the guitar, while Nyx played the beat she devised. A while in, I began to hear Nyx humming the tune I had improvised a moment ago. I never knew they fit so well together.

"Doo doo doo doo," I changed the last four notes of the fourth sentence and strummed an E minor chord after the G chord, instead of a C chord as before. Also, I only strummed once this time. I strummed the same chord a second time after four beats, and then I switched to A minor chord after another four beats and a G chord after another seven beats, only playing each chord once.

Nyx offered to teach me to play the drums. When I try out on the drums for the first time ever in my life, I found embarrassment in how clumsy I was when I played the instruments. The sound of the sticks hitting the drums was also not so pleasant at all. It was like throwing various objects onto the ground. However, Nyx told me that it was okay and that she was like that when she first started out as well.

After learning some basic drum beats and the notations, we left the room, but not before Nyx played me her beat for one final time. Nyx and I chatted as we walked down the corridor before we separated to go into our respective rooms.

I drew four parallel lines and wrote down the beat Nyx played me in my notebook, the same page as earlier. I also wrote down some more lyrics along with the melody I improvised when I was with Nyx in that room.

As I wrote the lyrics down, a flashback of me getting pinned to the ground by Perry in his lair came back. It wasn't particularly unpleasant, but it provoked some more ideas. I wrote,

 _You take me down_

 _I'm on the ground_

And also, on a blank space farther away, though still on the same page,

 _Why am I acting this eager?_

I looked at the sentence I'd just written for a couple of seconds. I crossed out the word "this" and changed it to "too", and I replaced another word with " German dude".


End file.
